The Kangaroo TrailTM will take
you on an unparalleled journey of discovery across the vast Australian continent
and its offshore islands. You will see supreme athletes such as one of the four
species of plains dwelling kangaroos, rock climbers who seem to defy gravity
such as one of the fifteen species of rock-wallaby, and one of the best noses
for truffles in the world, the long-nosed potoroo. The trail will take you into
the hinterland from each of the state and territory capitals to explore the
fascinating world of the bounders of the bush. Your leaders will be one of the
six species of large kangaroos who are the most recognisable of the multitude of
macropods. In their wild habitat you will follow the mob to their smaller kin
and learn about the diversity and structure in the communities of Australia’s
unique marsupial grazers and browsers. The more adventurous can follow a Big Red
into the spectacular landscapes and big skies of the Outback. The Wallaroos that
span the continent will lead you into the most spectacular wilderness through
the gorges and ranges of the Great Divide, the Flinders Ranges, the Red Centre,
Cape York, Arnhem Land, the Kimberley and the Pilbara.

Our aim is
to be the flagship of a ‘See Australia’ promotion based around wildlife tourism
with the marvellous mob of marsupials - the kangaroos and their kind. Through
partnerships with conservation agencies, tourism organisations, operators and
gateway communities across the continent and offshore islands our vision is to
place Australia at the forefront of nature-based tourism destinations for both
our international visitors and our citizens. Australia will be the
destination for seekers of the natural world as we capitalise on our unique
wildlife heritage. We seek to expand wildlife tourism with the kangaroos as our
flagship fauna by revealing an array of opportunities and a diversity of
experiences. We encourage visitors to make it a mission to see all of
Australia’s species of kangaroos so that their tourist dollar will have real and
realisable benefits through the economic activity of wildlife tourism to nature
conservation and the local communities and agencies who maintain habitat for
flagship species such as the kangaroos. We unashamedly promote kangaroos as a
wild living entity to be enjoyed and appreciated many times over for their
fascinating behaviour and biology and not their meat and hide products.

Kangaroo! Kangaroo!
Thou spirit of Australia,
That redeems from utter failure,
From perfect desolation,
And warrants the creation
Of this fifth part of the earth;...

Justice Barron Field, 1819

Consummate Australia:Kangaroos express
diversity, the successful occupation of most of Australia’s terrestrial
ecosystems, resilience to our climatic extremes, athleticism, careful
conservation of energy and water needs, and individualism in a rich social
life.

Australia and its offshore islands are a very large landmass and so to complete the
kangaroo trail is not a trivial journey but one of many months by air, road and
sea. If you succeed in seeing all 50 species and the additional recognised
subspecies in the wild then you will be amongst a very small and select group of
wildlife travellers. The destinations are widespread, some are very remote and
challenging to access, and once you arrive the species may be elusive requiring
much patient observation well into the nocturnal realm. We encourage you to
complete the kangaroo trail but recognise that for many the journey will be
short and selective based on a region, a type of habitat or species of interest.
Certainly no nature-based traveller should depart Australia or
head home without taking at least one hop along the trail.

The web portal for Tourism Australia is
www.australia.com. Each
State and Territory has a tourism portal to assist you in planning your journey.
Furthermore, each State and Territory has a Parks and Wildlife authority where
you can gain more information on the national parks and nature reserves which
are your destinations, and on the fauna and flora you can expect to see. We list
the websites for the best-place-to-see destinations in the fact sheets for each
species or recognised subspecies.

The best place to see each species or
subspecies of kangaroos and their kind has been selected to maximise the
likelihood of close viewing in the wild. However, with the exception of the
Musky Rat-kangaroo, species are most active at night leaving cover and resting
places around dusk and retiring back to these refuges around dawn. The best time
to view most species is therefore towards dusk and into the early evening when
they commence foraging. If you have the option, you should choose still evenings
without rain as most species retreat to cover or are particularly flighty under
inclement weather conditions, especially strong winds. Some species habitually
use dense cover (e.g. long-footed potoroo) and will be very difficult to see.
However, most emerge into clearings or open habitat adjacent to forest edges or
sparser shelter, and stationing yourself at such sites is usually rewarding.
Rock-wallabies often sun themselves in cooler weather and may remain visible
amongst the rocks towards dusk and for a period after dawn. During dry and warm
periods, water bodies are an attractant and drinking, like foraging, usually
starts around dusk and continues into the early evening. Many species are
inactive for a few hours around midnight as they digest a filled gut before
foraging again.

The best strategy to employ for your
viewing experience is to get local knowledge from wildlife rangers. Back this up
with your own observations of sign such as faecal pellets (usually black and
hard and not massed like rabbits or goats), tail drags and foot prints in
suitable substrates like sandy soils. Station yourself comfortably in a good
viewing location against a background that masks or disrupts your shape, and
wait patiently for your subjects to emerge. If you prefer to stalk, then an
oblique rather than a direct approach to a subject is preferable. Macropods have
excellent senses of smell and hearing but vision is optimised for the night
rather than the day and so you can mask your presence by being downwind, quiet
and against a non-contrasting background. At night you will need a form of
illumination – strong torch (flashlight) or spotlight. Detection is best
achieved by scanning at maximum illumination but observation should be by
holding the subject at the edge of the light or at minimal intensity if your
device has a dimmer or switchable intensity (e.g. LED devices). Red filtering of
light only has an effect through reduced intensity and not colour and so it is
not recommended. Natural behaviour will be maximised and disturbance minimised
if you have access to a generation 2 or better Night Vision Device supplemented
by infrared illumination (e.g. spotlight with infrared transmission filter or
array of infrared LED). However, NVDs are very expensive and binoculars and dim
supplementary lighting may suffice.

This website is the electronic sibling of 'The Kangaroo Trail Map', a large
format map (A1) of the best place to see the kangaroos and their kin. This paper map is available by postage - contact info@rootourism.com with your postal address. While a paper map is static and evolves only if a new edition is printed, this website is dynamic and participatory. 'The Kangaroo Trail Map' project
is a not-for-profit initiative developed to provide an understanding of the marvellous diversity of Australia's iconic kangaroo
fauna. The kangaroos and their kind provide key services to the function of our ecosystems (e.g. spread beneficial fungi in our forests, maintain diversity in our grasslands, turn over and fertilise soils) and our well-being (including our connectedness to the land). Without them we are much dimished, and so we hope to engender a respectful attitude to the 'mighty macropods' and your proactive support for their conservation.

This project is a private endeavour and is not sponsored by
any Australian government tourism or wildlife agency. However, we do thank NT, SA, TAS, WA and QLD tourism for letters of
encouragement and Tourism Australia for assistance with the launch of the
Kangaroo Trail Map. The project was conceived within the Wildlife Tourism sub-program of the now de-commissioned Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. A further life was provided by conceptual support from Wildlife Tourism Australia. Seed funding for the concept, map and website has been provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, in a grant to the Sustainable Toursim CRC; and Voiceless, the fund for animals, in a grant to the Australian Wildlife Protection Council. These organisations have been consistent in their support for and generous funding of wildlife tourism projects that lead to a non-consumptive and respectful treatment of animals. Even so their views are expressed on their websites and publications and not here. Likewise their funding has finished and is not ongoing. If you feel moved to make a financial contribution to the upkeep of the project then there is a PayPal button on the feedback page. We're happy if you get out there and (metaphorically) embrace your chosen kangaroo species!

Disclaimer: The information contained on
this website has been prepared by rootourismTM,
a wildlife tourism information provider. The information is general only and
does not purport to be comprehensive. The currency of the information is at the
time of production only. New information and the correction of inaccuracies may
be placed on this web site but there is no obligation to do so. The information
is not intended to provide or make any recommendation on which you should rely –
if you rely on this information then you do so at your own risk. The producers
of this website exclude any liability for any error or inaccuracy in, or
omissions from, the pages and any loss or damage which you or any other person
may suffer. The producers do not necessarily endorse any company, product,
service or organisation represented on the website.